Mile Marker 85: Peter Iredale Shipwreck

Join us for the 3 year anniversary of the Rebel At Large adventure podcast. In this episode we take you to the Oregon Coast to visit the Peter Iredale shipwreck and give you some of its & its founders history.

Thank you all for hanging out with us and letting us share our stories with you.
Cheers.

If you want to know more about the Peter Iredale, HERE'S a link to the website Gypsie mentioned in the episode.

Transcript

Key: Drifter, Male voice. Gypsie, Female voice

Uplifting rock/western tune plays for 15 seconds, music begins to taper down then:

(Drifter) Welcome to the Rebel At Large Adventure Podcast. I’m Drifter

(Gypsie) And I’m  Gypsie

(Drifter) Talking about Ghost towns,

(Gypsie) Graveyards,

(Drifter) Outlaws, Heroes

(Gypsie) And Ladies of the night.

Music tapers to an end

(Drifter) Howdy folks, Thanks for joining us for yet another adventure. In this episode we take you to the coast of the Pacific Northwest to visit the resting place of not someone famous yet some thing that has been lost to time.

(Gypsie) Some of you may not know that off the coast of Warrenton Oregon is a shipwreck that you can walk right up to and explore. Over time, the harsh weather and the ocean waves have decayed the ship to the point that not much is left. Before we get into the ship itself, we want to talk about the men that were in charge of building the doomed vessel.

(Drifter) Peter Iredale was born on May 12, 1823 in Great Broughton, a small village in northern England. As of the 2011 census, the population of this village was merely 990 residents. Peter was the third son of John and Elizabeth Iredale. Information is hard to find about his childhood other than he was baptized at one month of age in St. Bridget’s Church in Bridekirk, which rests on the east coast about a 2 ½ hour drive from his birth place. At age 17, Peter got a job working on a ship. He was very ambitious and wanted to be successful in life and this can be seen when after only 5  years working at sea he was made mate of the Princess Royal. 

(Gypsie) For the next 8 years he sailed the oceans. Then at the age of 30, while living in Liverpool, he took the test to become a Master Mariner. On April 8th 1853 he received his certificate. We looked up what a master mariner is, this is someone who holds the highest grade of seafarer qualification. Meaning he had no limit on the size of ship he could captain nor did he have a limit on the amount or type of material he could ship. This was pretty much an all access pass to do what he wanted on the ocean. 

(Drifter) On April 13, 1853, One week after he received his certificate,  he was married to Betty Archer in the same church he was baptized in. Betty’s father was Joseph Archer, he supplied food and beverages to ships so Betty would have been somewhat familiar to ships but not accustomed to her husband being away for sometimes an entire year at sea. (Gypsie) For roughly the next decade, from 1854 to 1864, Peter worked for Messrs Stuart and Douglas as a ship captain hauling materials to and from West Africa. According to Captain Frank H. Shaw’s book, Seas of Memory, he talked about the 10 years Peter was working for Messrs Stuart and Douglas stating

(Drifter) “Peter Iredale, the owner of the Dovenby, whom I later met, was a shameless opportunist, who ran his fleet on the thriftiest line. He had made money in the slave-trade, running Black Ivory from the Guinea Coast to the Southern States; and had invested his gains in a considerable fleet of windjammers, all of them strictly utilitarian, and run much as he had run his Middle Passage contrabandista. He manned his vessels with romantic boys for the most part, supplementing them by the minimum allowable of fore-deck hands. He bought condemned Navy stores for feeding his flock. He was a flint-hearted miser, and seldom contacted his victims in person. When my wire-spinning friend took me to interview this magnate, he said: ‘that boy seems to be educated!’ “There is nothing on record that bears out this allegation. The key question is however, where did he find the great amount of cash to finance his fleet in such a short period of time and in those days?” 

(Gypsie) It is true we do not know where he got his money to start his business, however we do know that in 1857 he is listed as owner of the ship Margaret Blais. When Peter was home, he was a loving husband; the couple had two children while living in Liverpool. Their oldest was his son Joseph Henry followed by his daughter Martha Lizzie. Both of them were baptized in the same church as their father. Joseph was baptized in 1859 and Martha was baptized in 1861. 

(Drifter) Once Peter finished working for Messrs Stuart and Douglas in 1864 he began working for himself. His company was called P. Iredale and Company. On March 15, 1864 he purchased a ship of his own and named it Calabar. He even had a full figured woman on the front of it. John Napton was the captain of the ship from 1864-1869. The ship remained in service until 1872 when it was abandoned. 

(Gypsie) One ship was not enough for Peter; in 1868 he purchased a second ship called Lizzie Iredale, named after his daughter. The following year he purchased the Vale of Doon, Then in 1871 he acquired the Dovenby as well as Mary Ann Wilson. The following year he got another ship called Ada Iredale. This ship was named after his third daughter Ada Mary. In 1873 he purchased Seaton the next year he bought Great Broughton. 1875 must have been a good year for him, he purchased three ships that year: the City of Carlisle, Ullock, and Martha Fisher. In 1876 he purchased two more ships, the Cockermouth as well as the Archer, which was named after his wife's maiden name. In 1877 He purchased Lizzie Bell, then in 1879 he purchased Cumbrian. In all he had a fleet of 15 ships carrying cargo all over the world. 

(Drifter) While Peter was trying to start his own shipping business his family suffered two great losses. His daughter Mary Isabella was born in 1866 in Dovenby but unfortunately she passed away on September 18th 1866, only living 25 days . Then in 1868 his third daughter Ada Mary Isabel was born. Ada lived to be 10 years and 9 months when she passed away on March 27th 1879. At the time of her death the family had moved to Rock Ferry. Both of the girls were laid to rest at the Bebington Cemetery. On their headstone it reads (Gypsie) “Happy children I resign, all in you that once was mine, on the savior’s tender breast, you are lulled to endless rest.” 

(Drifter) A little side note, the family was living at 8 Rock Park Rock Ferry during the time Ada passed away and that house is still standing today. (Gypsie) From what we can see on google maps it's a large white house with several fireplaces. Rightmove.co.uk states the house has 6 bedrooms and from the pictures on the website the house has a beautiful spiral staircase that goes up all three floors. It doesn’t list how big the house is but we wouldn’t be surprised if it was over 3,000 sq feet. Also the view out front of the house is of the River Mersey. 

(Drifter) Another little side note, the ship named after his daughter Ada Iredale caught on fire in the South Pacific. The ship was carrying coal and the fire burned for 8 months with the ship just floating out in the ocean. It was eventually towed into the port of Papeete, repaired and sold. The name of the ship changed to Annie Thompson and it sailed out of San Francisco. Then in 1927 it was sold again and renamed to Bretagne. The ship was only on the ocean for two more years before it crashed in 1929 off the Oregon coast. The ship was in service for a total of 57 years. 

(Gypsie) Ok, back to Peter. In 1881 his 22 year old son, Joseph Henry, joined his father in the shipping business. The company was renamed P. Iredale and Son. On August 13 1885, Peter’s daughter Martha Lizzie was married to John Porter. John was the fourth son of William Porter. He was born on August 5th 1860 in Ireland. His father was a successful ship owner so John was very familiar with ships. Growing up he loved to be out on the water fishing. In 1875 when John was about 15 years old he found out that one of the William Porter and Son ships was in Queenstown. He told his family he was leaving to go visit a friend, but that was a lie. Really John was going to Queenstown. 

(Drifter) When he reached the area he signed on as a crew member. The captain had no idea who John was until it was too late to turn the ship around. All he could do was flag down an inbound ship, and request they tell the Agents of William Porter and Son that he had the owner's son on board. This whole situation upset the captain and he made sure John was well aware that he was not going to receive any special treatment just because his dad owned the ship. John worked hard on the ship and was away from the family for 2 years. 

(Gypsie) When John returned home, he was almost 18 years old. (Drifter) He had grown in height as well as grown a mustache and beard. He went to the family house and had the maid introduce him to the family under a fictitious name. But he could not trick his mom, she knew it was him right away and said (Gypsie) “Welcome home John, now go and shave that beard off at once.” (Drifter) Though John loved being at sea he knew that was not the life he wanted to live. (Gypsie) After his return home, he went to work with his father and grandfather. Marrying Martha may not have been a marriage of love rather a marriage to grow the companies. 

(Drifter) Joseph stayed working with his father for roughly 8 years, then in  1889 they parted ways. This must have been something the father and son team had been planning because in 1888 Peter sent a letter to John who was still living in Ireland asking him to move his family to Liverpool. The following year John, Martha, and their two daughters made the move. During Peter’s time working with his son, the two of them acquired 8 more ships, we are not going to go through and name them all but this put them at a total of 23 ships Peter had purchased. From 1881 to 1890 the company lost or sold a total of 6 ships. 

(Gypsie) Once John started working with Peter, the company name changed to P. Iredale and Porter Ltd. Even though Peter was now 67 years old he was still involved in the day to day operations of the company. While the two of them were in business together they purchased 11 more ships. The Mowhan was purchased in 1892 and was the largest ship in their fleet. 

(Drifter) The two of them purchased a ship called the Peter Iredale in 1890. It was slightly smaller than the Mowhan but it is the ship that made us want to learn more about these men. We will get more into that in a bit. The builder of the ship was R.Ritson and Company Ltd. It was built in the Mayport yard and completed the same year it was purchased. It had three large masts and one smaller mast in the back. 

(Gypsie) During the years 1891 to 1899, Peter and John lost 4 ships to wrecks. One of the shipwrecks was Ulidia; it  wrecked on May 18, 1893 on Stragglers Reef in Australia. The ship had just dropped off a load of sand and was on its way to Sydney where they had another contract to meet. The captain could not wait for the weather to clear or he would be late. On the day of the wreck he attempted to sail north to clear Rottnest Island. Unfortunately, the wind shifted north and he could not control the ship. The bottom of the ship hit Stragglers Reef and quickly started taking on water. Two rescue boats left Fremantle Harbour to rescue the men, but the ship was a total loss. They took what they could off the ship and left it there. The area is now a designated wreck and protected by Australian law. People still to this day dive down to see the ship. 

(Drifter) Peter continued to own and operate the business with John until he retired in 1899 at the age of 76. His body was failing him and he was sick. Peter passed away that same year on October 26th. (Gypsie) His cause of death was listed as gout, chronic nephritis also known as inflammation of the kidneys, as well as exhaustion. (Drifter) His son Joseph stayed by his side the entire time he was sick and was there with him when he passed away. 

(Gypsie) The Liverpool Mercury reported on his passing saying “ (Drifter) in the presence of a large and representative gathering of mourners, testifying to the esteem and regard in which the deceased was held by all classes. His death came as a heavy blow to the shipping community, with which he had been connected for the past 20 years. The funeral cortege left the residence of the deceased, Leith Villa, New Ferry Park, shortly after 2 o’clock and proceeded to the cemetery, where it was met by the Rev. H.G. Roberts (Warrington), who officiated in the church and at the graveside”. 

(Gypsie) Peter was laid to rest with his daughters as well as his wife Bessie. She passed away 12 years earlier, at the age of 61 on January 9th 1887. All of them share a headstone with Peter’s name on the bottom and the saying Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep, from which none ever wakes to weep. (Drifter) Below the headstone is a base that reads that Joseph Henry Iredale son of above died at Neston March 27th 1948 aged 89 years. 

(Gypsie) At his graveside service the reverend said (Drifter) “I think this gathering this afternoon bears witness to the nobility of Mr. Iredale’s character. You who are here can speak better than I can of the indelible impression he had made upon the minds and hearts of those in Liverpool, and I was very much struck with the words taken from a reference to the deceased by Mr. John Hughes, ‘that his word was his bond.’ I cannot say much of Mr. Iredale’s commercial life, but I am glad to say that I was with him a few hours before he died and bear testimony to his unswerving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

(Gypsie) We were unable to track what happened to the business after Peter passed away. From what we could find John Porter and his family eventually did move back to Greenisland. The reason we wanted to share Peter and John with you, like we mentioned before, they were the owners of the Peter Iredale ship. 

(Drifter) In the early morning hours of Thursday October 25th, 1906,  the Oregon coast experienced something it had never experienced before. The weather was terrible with the wind blowing and hail falling from the sky. The Peter Iredale was on its way to Astoria after leaving Mexico some 29 days prior. The ship as well as its captain had been to the area several times before and were well aware of the dangers of crossing the Columbia river at night as well as during the storm. 

(Gypsie) The ship reached the area around 2am, Captain H. Lawrence could see the lights at Astoria but knew the right thing to do was to wait it out until daylight when the path was clear. Unfortunately the captain lost his bearings in the current and before they knew it the ship was out of control and heading to the shore. A call came out saying (Drifter) “breakers dead ahead,” (Gypsie) but it was too late. Captain Lawrence did not have time to correct the ship. 

(Drifter) Around 7:45 that morning the Peter Iredale impacted the shore. Almost everything sticking out of the ship or sitting on the deck was thrown into the ocean. All four masts were broken and snapped into pieces. The ship's large anchors were shot outward and off the ship. As the waves rushed in the ship was being pushed over, within minutes it was on its side. It was estimated that the ship was under roughly 13 feet of water. 

(Gypsie) The captain yelled out to his crew to abandon ship. He and the crew were getting things ready to leave when the Point Adams life–saving crew arrived to help the men. The Peter Iredale crew loaded up into the rescue boats and all crew members including two stowaways were safe. The men were even able to get a few of the ship's instruments off before they left. 

(Drifter) As the rescue boats arrived safely on land they were greeted by the locals with food, water, and a large amount of liquor. According to the news reports of that day many of the crew members got hammered that night and it almost looked like a party was going on. (Gypsie) Captain Lawrence toasted the ship with a bottle of whiskey and told his crew to also take a drink. He then said (Drifter) “May God bless you and may your bones bleach in these sands.” (Gypsie) The news continued saying (Drifter) “a bottle of whiskey is the most tempting of all creature comforts to a sailor, afloat or ashore, safe or in a stress, and this was proven all too plainly yesterday.” 

(Gypsie) After celebrating on the shore, the men were taken to the Point Adams station where they were offered dry clothes and a warm place to sleep. The next morning most of the crew boarded the train for Astoria for a place to stay the next few days. Two men were taken to the hospital to recover, and a few men were so drunk that they were unable to make the train to Astoria. 

(Drifter) The following day a group of men from Warrenton went down to the wreck to check it out. At low tide they boarded the ship to do some exploring. Soon the tide started to come in and the men took the shore. Unfortunately Malcolm Grider was unable to make it to shore and drowned. By this time it was late and the rescue crew was unable to find his body until the next day. According to the article, Malcolm had lived in Warrenton for the past 10 years and at one time conducted a store there. He was 26 years old when he passed away. He was laid to rest in the Ocean View Cemetery. 

(Gypsie) Captain Lawrence as well as a few crew members refused to leave the ship's side. They stayed in the area for a few days trying to salvage what they could from the wreck. By Sunday the area was turning into a tourist attraction with almost a thousand people coming to see the ship. They also took items from the ship that the crew did not want, like pots and pans, and dishes. Everyone wanted a little memento of what happened. People also came to take measurements of the ship to see how much metal was there, in case they were thinking of scrapping the ship.

(Drifter) At first plans were put in place to put the ship back in the water as it seemed everything was fine with the hull. But the men making the decisions dragged their feet and by the time it came to move it the winter storms were setting in and the ship was beginning to get buried under the sand. Ultimately they made the decision to dismantle the ship and sell the chunks of metal for scrap. The propeller of the Peter Iredale can be seen today outside of the Columbia Maritime Museum in Astoria. 

(Gypsie) Over the years, the shipwreck continues to be a stopping point for people to explore. We went there to see it ourselves. For me it was the first time but for Drifter he had seen it several times. The ship is slowly deteriorating away and soon there will not be much left of it. Depending on where the tide is, will also determine how much of the ship you can see. We will put pictures up online for you to see what is left of it. (Drifter) If you are interested in seeing the deterioration of the ship there are several websites online that have pictures of it over the years. 

(Gypsie) If you are planning on visiting the Peter Iredale, there is plenty of parking but there are no bathrooms in the area. You will have to walk a bit to get to the beach but it's worth it. Also be careful out there the ocean can change tides quickly and it can unexpectedly pull you out. 

(Drifter) So, I lived in Seaside Oregon for a couple of years. I had the opportunity to live there as well as earn a decent living, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. At the time I drove a Chevy HHR, just a little car, which I had gotten stuck in the sand before and had to be towed out. When I moved to the coast, I immediately started looking for beach trucks. There is about a dozen miles of beach you can drive on, beginning in Gearhart and ending at the Columbia River Jetty. This drive passes right by the Peter Iredale shipwreck. My first beach truck was a 77 chevy long bed, which there wasnt much left of it when I got it, the sea has it’s way with steel. After some time it began to fail, driving through the water didnt help to extend it’s life. I later picked up a 77 K5 Blazer that was lifted, mud tires and even an old winch that I used to rescue others stuck in the sand. If you’re from the area and recall an old black blazer on the beach with a pirate flag tied to the cb antenna, that was me. The beach cruises were nearly a daily event for me. I’d put the truck in drive and just idle my way up the beach as far as the tides would allow. One learns to read tide charts right quick with this hobby. I’ve seen the remains of the shipwreck nearly buried in water and once enough sand was washed away I was able to see a good length of the ship and what remained of the mast’s. Typically all you can see is the rusting skeleton of the ships bow. If you can get right up to the remains, you’ll have a chance to get some unique photos as that part of the coast changes daily and the wreck gets to be less and less every year.

(Drifter) Well, I think that wraps up our visit to the resting place of the Peter Iredale shipwreck.

(Gypsie) My sources for this came from a website that Peter Iredales relative put together. We will put the link to it in the show notes. 

(Drifter) Do you have a dad joke for us today?

(Drifter) Alright then. Thank you all so very much for joining us and supporting the Rebel At Large adventure podcast. As alway’s, if we're active at all, we’re most active on the Instagram (Gypsie) @rebelatlarge. You can find links to our email, patreon, merch store in the show notes and on any of our social deals. (Drifter) We’ll talk to ya here in a couple of weeks, (Gypsie) Safe Travels, (Drifter) We’ll see ya down the road.

Begin 30 seconds of the same uplifting Rock/Western tune as the introduction.

http://www.iredale.de/maritime/biograph.htm